This invention generally relates to diagnostics and repair, and more particularly to a method and system for correcting a malfunction or breakdown of a machine, such as a locomotive, a system, and/or a process.
The diagnosis, repair, maintenance and/or other servicing of generally complex equipment, such as mobile assets that may include on-road and off-road vehicles, ships, airplanes, railroad locomotives, trucks, and other forms of complex equipment including industrial equipment, consumer appliance equipment, medical imaging equipment, equipment used in industrial processes, telecommunications, aerospace applications, power generation, etc. involves extremely complex and time consuming processes. In the case of transportation equipment, such as a locomotive and a fleet of locomotives, the efficient and cost-effect operation of a vehicle or fleet of vehicles demands minimization of the number of vehicle failures while in use, minimization of vehicle downtime and the expeditious and accurate performance of diagnostic, repair, maintenance and/or other services to the vehicles.
A locomotive is one example of a complex electromechanical system comprising a plurality of complex systems and subsystems. Many if not all of these systems and subsystems are manufactured from components that will fail over time. The operational parameters of a locomotive system or subsystem are frequently monitored with on-board sensors that may continually monitor on-board operational parameters of systems, subsystems, and/or other components during operation of the locomotive to detect potential or actual failures. The on-board system may also log fault data or other fault indicators when anomalous operating conditions arise. If a failure condition or a set of failure conditions is detected then a service technician may study the fault log and/or indicator after a locomotive has arrived in a service yard to identify the nature of the problem and determine whether a repair and/or maintenance service is necessary. Conducting the diagnostics at the service yard for all faults detected may extend the overall amount of time the vehicle is out of service, especially when considering the complexity of locomotive systems and subsystems, it is sometimes difficult to precisely identify a failed component or other cause of the failure conditions.
This may be because the effects or problems that the failure has on the system or subsystem are often neither readily apparent in terms of their source nor unique. Sometimes the recommended fix for a problem may not resolve the problem due to the complexity of the problem and/or diagnostic efforts. With some components, this is not a significant issue. For example, if a component has binary functional properties in that it either works properly or it doesn't, such as a mechanical or electrical switch, then diagnosing, recommending a fix and determining that the fix was correct is typically not too difficult. However, with more complex problems these efforts may be more difficult and may lead to the inefficient operation or underutilization of a locomotive or fleet of locomotives.
Diagnosing failure conditions associated with complex machines such as systems and subsystems of a locomotive may be performed by experienced personnel who have in-depth training and experience in working with a particular type of machine. Typically, these experienced individuals may use current and historical information associated with a problem that has been recorded in a written or electronic log. Using this information, the technicians apply their accumulated experience, knowledge and training, in mapping incidents occurring in a complex system and/or subsystem to problems that may be causing the incidents.
Computer-based systems are also used to automatically diagnose problems in a machine to overcome some of the disadvantages associated with relying completely on experienced personnel. This may increase the speed and consistency of the diagnosis. Computer-based systems are becoming more popular and may utilize a mapping between the observed failure conditions and the equipment problems using techniques such as table look-ups, symptom-problem matrices, and production rules, for example. These techniques work well for simplified systems having simple mappings between symptoms and problems. However, more complex equipment and process diagnostics seldom have such simple correspondences. Consequently, recommended fixes may be made that do not solve a problem immediately or completely. This may not be determined for sometime after the fix was executed, leading to the potential for recommending the same improper fix when that problem is next identified.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and system for monitoring the resolution of problems associated with a machine, such as a locomotive, and verifying that an executed fix instruction has resolved that problem. The ability to monitor and verify the resolution of problems with a locomotive's systems and/or subsystems is advantageous because this ability may minimize overall locomotive downtime, leading to a cost savings for the operator of the locomotive or a fleet of locomotives.